The first R...my favorite

[Skye]

The first R in "reduce, reuse and recycle" is good for the "green" theme but saves money.
Please post your tips and product solutions to reduce here.

I have done audits on my business and continually find ways to reduce.

First I looked at my printable products.
A huge amount of our printing is 4' x 8's. So why do I buy 54" vinyl when I only use 48"? Well we now use oracal 50" vinyl. It not only saves over $25 bucks a roll, I have less garbage and less garbage means more time and money saved.

I will post more about reducing later.

Skye

 

[tintguy31794]

I have 1" 2" 3" 6" 10" 12" 16" 18" 20" 24" 30" rolls of application tape..

Also use scrap vinyl (anything under 4") to tape off screens for t-shirt printing.

I also sell the vinyl cores back to the supplier for .25 each
.. not big savings, but all I could think of at the moment.

 

[jdigital]

We have thought of an idea to reuse banner material. one idea is if you are printing banners for a fundraiser or promotional product, the client could send the banners back and have tote bags, etc. sewn out of them and actually sell or give away these to members or people who attended the fundraiser,etc. Just a thought.

 

[Kemble]

A recycling company comes by on trash days. We always have more recycle that trash. We recycle all paper, plastic, cardboard. 2 trash bins next to our weeding/masking table, all the vinyl liner and masking tape goes into 1 while the weeded vinyl goes in the other.

All of our shipping boxes are made from the most recycled materials.

I reuse masking tape very often. As long as it's not destroyed by sticking to itself or too old to where the adhesive is coming off, it gets reused.

And just like tintguy31794, I have just about every size of masking tape.

 

[OldPaint]

not to be an old codger.....but i remember the day when i would letter a whole box truck, never used a full qt of paint, hada small pint of turps, to clean the brushes, and it was dumped into a gallon can and REUSED on the next job. amount of trash from the job was a handfull of masking tape, and the wrapers from the burgers and the paper cup the soda was in, that i had for lunch!!!!)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

 

[surf city]

I donate all of my scrap vinyl to a local nursing home and also a preschool so they can use it for activities.